Koules and Barrie were able to take a few minutes to speak with The Tampa Tribune to discuss why they wanted to venture into the business of owning an NHL franchise, how they met and shared some of their ideas on what kind of a team the fans can expect to see on the ice….

Q: So does that mean you have a pretty aggressive game plan put together in terms of free agency when it opens July 1?

LB: “We might be camping out at two different spots selling our team, selling our city and selling our passion.”

OK: “We are probably going to be in certain players’ backyards with a tent, seriously, the day of. The day the clock strikes we will probably be at their home. And I don’t want that written because I don’t want anybody stealing our ideas. But we are serious, we are seriously talking about doing that.”

Q: Do you have a payroll in mind of what you want to spend or will you wait to see how that plays out?

Now, the tea leaves. Given that only a small percentage of players work beyond their late 30s, a man of Lecavalier’s age, and riches already banked, is probably looking at no more than an eight-year extension, bringing him to age 37. The league soon will announce that a max deal, based on leaguewide revenues and the salary-cap figure, will be pegged around $11 million a year.

Exposed in the free agent market next summer, Lecavalier likely would entice at least a couple of suitors (are you listening, Montreal?) to offer him a max deal. To remain in Tampa, where many of his extended family members have moved in recent years, he probably would lock in around eight years at $80 million.

Maybe Oren Koules and Len Barrie are going to be a two-headed version of Mark Cuban. Maybe, as some in the hockey industry suggest, they’re going to turn the Tampa Bay Lightning upside down with their idiosyncratic notions of ownership activism….

Stories of Barrie and Koules calling other NHL teams directly to discuss player moves, with Lightning GM Jay Feaster left to figure out the details, are already popular gossip topics in hockey circles.

Seen Stamkos? Those billboards are all over town, touting the virtues of the 18-year-old the Bolts chose Friday with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
I have a better idea, at least for incoming owner Oren Koules.

Seen Jordan?

That would be Michael Jordan, who has never played hockey (so far as we know). That didn’t stop former Bolts owner Art Williams from declaring 10 years ago on a night just like this that Vinny Lecavalier would become “the Michael Jordan of hockey.” Then, as now, the Bolts built the kid into Superman without bothering to wait for him to grow.

They made Vinny the savior of the franchise before he even knew his way around town.

TSN’s sister station in Quebec RDS reports that the Lightning and centre Vincent Lecavalier have made very good progress on discussions that would see him sign a ‘lifelong’ contract with the club after July 1.

Lecavalier, 28, is entering the final season of a four-year, $27.5 million contract where he will earn $7.167 million.

And superstar Vinny Lecavalier was thrilled his good friend and linemate with whom he has had so much success has a chance to be back on the MVP line with him and Marty St. Louis. And that is probably most important.

The Lightning has said since February it wants to sign Lecavalier to an extension. That rhetoric was turned up earlier this month when Lecavalier’s agent, Kent Hughes, said he believes the organization is shooting to keep Lecavalier on the team for his entire career. Not that Prospal, 33, will be around that long, but getting Prospal sends a definite message to Lecavalier that the organization cares what he thinks.

Feaster would not confirm the various two-month-old reports that Barry Melrose will be installed as the Lightning’s new bench boss, but did admit the new coach will be hired by the new ownership group.

“It’s not my search. I think that the owners have some real ideas in where they want to go,” said Feaster, who jokingly added, “one of the reasons I showed up [at the coach’s dinner last night] was to see who sits down, so I can find out who is my new coach.”

The Philadelphia Flyers announced Wednesday that they have traded the rights to forward Vaclav Prospal to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a seventh round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

“Vinny really didn’t express much of an interest in coming back and playing for us next season,” said General Manager Holmgren in making the announcement. “His heart is elsewhere.”